tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77577864687689230912016-08-25T14:27:16.611-04:00Twenty-Nine Thousand AcornsA mature oak can produce twenty-nine thousand acorns a year. Each has the chance to sustain our people, heal the world some, and spread where it can.29,000 Acornshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00668130282973833943noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7757786468768923091.post-7922765623861881982012-09-30T20:14:00.000-04:002012-09-30T20:16:33.325-04:00Guest Post: Masculinity is Not RevolutionaryOriginally posted here by Kid Cutbank, and reposted here with permission. This is an idea that I think is essential to our creating egalitarian cultures, or just in general living in a sane way.
Revolutionaries of many types maintain that resistance by any means necessary is required to stop momentous social injustice and environmental degradation. These activists recognize that those in power <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/29000acorns/~4/117lwksxCX0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>29,000 Acornshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00668130282973833943noreply@blogger.com0http://29000acorns.blogspot.com/2012/09/guest-post-masculinity-is-not.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7757786468768923091.post-54602405052039381152011-12-04T18:36:00.008-05:002011-12-04T19:16:51.099-05:00The Quandary of Medical TechnologyThis summer my father nearly died, and was saved by high-tech heart surgery. In the immediate period of recovery following this event, during which I was busily employed at my parents shop to help pull up some of the slack (while working another job at that), I was a bit to preoccupied by everyday activities to give much thought to the ramifications of the event (aside from pointing out to my dad<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/29000acorns/~4/DZLO5daUexo" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>29,000 Acornshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00668130282973833943noreply@blogger.com3http://29000acorns.blogspot.com/2011/12/quandary-of-medical-technology.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7757786468768923091.post-32448664491541442872011-07-12T14:19:00.007-04:002011-07-12T16:20:42.711-04:00Cattails: "Supermarket in the Swamp"It's about time I did a post on the other wild plant I think is supremely important as a food source for self-sufficiency and wilderness survival. Cattails, which are the plants in the genus typha, are a moisture loving plant usually found and swamps, on the edges of bodies of water, and in fairly wet ditches. They grow on every continent, and are fairly easy to identify. There are edible <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/29000acorns/~4/QO43nJPnieM" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>29,000 Acornshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00668130282973833943noreply@blogger.com1http://29000acorns.blogspot.com/2011/07/cattails-supermarket-in-swamp.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7757786468768923091.post-27115774113364235892011-07-07T00:21:00.002-04:002011-07-07T00:25:31.839-04:00Eco-literacyJust as you can't truly love another human without knowing them intimately, you can't love your landbase without knowing it intimately. In other words, you can't be a real environmentalist, or not much of one anyway, if you don't know how the land you live on functions and how to interact with it properly. You need to know how to live in place to be able to make any real decisions about that <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/29000acorns/~4/TH0EnIjJq3Q" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>29,000 Acornshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00668130282973833943noreply@blogger.com2http://29000acorns.blogspot.com/2011/07/eco-literacy.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7757786468768923091.post-65166265732874251642011-04-30T13:47:00.005-04:002011-04-30T14:58:47.206-04:00Three Sister GardeningI just started digging out some gardens to plant the Three sisters, a traditional triad of plants grown in many places on the North American continent. It's a fantastic technique for growing a survival garden, that is something you can actually feed yourself off of with minimal work and land use. The plants help each other as per the principles of companion planting. The corn stalks grow tall,<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/29000acorns/~4/fX7YhRwIUbU" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>29,000 Acornshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00668130282973833943noreply@blogger.com2http://29000acorns.blogspot.com/2011/04/three-sister-gardening.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7757786468768923091.post-5877923796494827422011-02-28T01:19:00.002-05:002011-02-28T13:04:46.005-05:00The Premises of This BlogIt's been said often enough that argument arises out of people thinking they mean the same thing with the same words. More specifically, a lot of these disputes have to do with pre-conceived ideas about a subject, and the assumptions we make concerning the world and our relationships. Often these assumptions are not examined, the result of our culture's conditioning and the narrative conveyed <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/29000acorns/~4/ocbeSJY-G1w" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>29,000 Acornshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00668130282973833943noreply@blogger.com3http://29000acorns.blogspot.com/2011/02/premises-of-this-blog.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7757786468768923091.post-67533263600547905482011-02-24T21:05:00.002-05:002011-02-24T21:19:51.919-05:00Hunting AdviceAs I've mentioned before, I'm making efforts to transition my diet away from markets and towards relying on my landbase for food. This has involved some gardens (some failed, some successful), lots of foraging, and learning to hunt. Well, shortly after my hiatus from blogging began, I finally went on my first deer hunt. This was a huge thing for me, not just because I love well cooked deer <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/29000acorns/~4/CRxYaoHMzE0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>29,000 Acornshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00668130282973833943noreply@blogger.com2http://29000acorns.blogspot.com/2011/02/hunting-advice.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7757786468768923091.post-61472207973858457192011-02-24T12:32:00.002-05:002011-02-24T12:32:00.807-05:00Winter Hibernation and ReturnWinter is always a weird time for me, writing wise. A lot of things have been happening lately with me, and I can use them all as excuses to cover for the fact that, essentially, I've just ignored writing. Sorry for those of you who enjoy my writing. In part, I think I've been depressed, and while I know it's at least a little bit because of a lack of sunlight and monetary troubles, some of it<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/29000acorns/~4/N_fGcQqn1LU" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>29,000 Acornshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00668130282973833943noreply@blogger.com0http://29000acorns.blogspot.com/2011/02/winter-hibernation-and-return.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7757786468768923091.post-70879038036624369882010-11-07T19:57:00.005-05:002010-11-08T03:36:32.855-05:00Why Environmentalists Need to HuntAfter reading Sean's great piece about reasons for eating meat, it occurred to me that in many places, hunting isn't just an environmentally sound way to get meat, it's a social and environmental responsibility.In many places certain species are so over-populated that they are an environmental blight themselves. In some parts of Connecticut, for example, I've heard that there are around 65 white<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/29000acorns/~4/1ouT5YtRNoE" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>29,000 Acornshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00668130282973833943noreply@blogger.com3http://29000acorns.blogspot.com/2010/11/why-environmentalists-need-to-hunt.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7757786468768923091.post-62908505940761708722010-10-29T18:54:00.001-04:002010-10-29T18:54:00.324-04:00Why I Eat MeatThis is a beautiful post from Sean Donahue at Green Man Ramblings, reproduced here because I think it's important, and have touched on similar things with a piece some months ago.I was a vegetarian for seventeen years. And in the end, it was reflecting on the same questions that led me to stop eating meat that made me start eating it again.Throughout my years as a vegetarian, I subscribed to the <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/29000acorns/~4/7nTNRPDmn0I" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>29,000 Acornshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00668130282973833943noreply@blogger.com1http://29000acorns.blogspot.com/2010/10/why-i-eat-meat.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7757786468768923091.post-55845175302034250252010-09-10T07:28:00.000-04:002010-09-10T07:28:00.245-04:00Acorn ProcessingI was asked on my Facebook recently if I had something about how to process acorns on this blog, and realized I hadn't. Seems like a kind of important post to have, considering the name of the blog and its meaning. Different people have slightly different ways to process them, dependent on the tools used, environmental conditions, and of course the types of acorns. So I'll post a method <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/29000acorns/~4/A6Tazb4yIGE" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>29,000 Acornshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00668130282973833943noreply@blogger.com8http://29000acorns.blogspot.com/2010/09/acorn-processing.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7757786468768923091.post-72896754418025048722010-08-15T14:06:00.000-04:002010-08-15T14:06:00.937-04:00Recipe: Venison AdoboMy partner Kris has been saying that I should post one of my recipes that always goes over well: venison adobo. I've made it for Rewild New England gatherings, as well as in general from time to time. The last time I brought it to a gathering, a friend of mine who hadn't eaten red meat for ten years chowed down, remarking that it was the right way to eat red meat. I also quickly became the <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/29000acorns/~4/lQ_CNUBXdOw" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>29,000 Acornshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00668130282973833943noreply@blogger.com2http://29000acorns.blogspot.com/2010/08/recipe-venison-adobo.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7757786468768923091.post-90997654666557919072010-05-28T16:03:00.004-04:002010-08-11T02:01:56.310-04:00Wild Eating Challenge ConclusionAfter just over three weeks, I've decided to end my wild/gardened food experiment. It wasn't for any lack of food or blandness; over the past three weeks I've had the opportunities to try a number of foods I might not have thought of, tasted delicious delicacies and used wild foods in ways that I'd never expected. I've had the opportunity to dine on barbecued snapping turtle, and been able to <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/29000acorns/~4/ddRTxu1hKw8" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>29,000 Acornshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00668130282973833943noreply@blogger.com5http://29000acorns.blogspot.com/2010/05/wild-eating-challenge-conclusion.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7757786468768923091.post-60553433858008098752010-05-07T14:47:00.002-04:002010-05-07T15:31:43.199-04:00Wild/Local Food Challenge!My partner has been suggesting that I do some posts about more physical things, such as step-by-step tutorials and updates about my own projects and activities. After all, telling people why they need to live sustainably and in free feral groups just doesn't cut it if you can't at least give hints on how to do so. Granted, there are a lot of other places to get that information, and I'm glad to<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/29000acorns/~4/I7_OGZ4WbnE" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>29,000 Acornshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00668130282973833943noreply@blogger.com4http://29000acorns.blogspot.com/2010/05/wildlocal-food-challenge.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7757786468768923091.post-47098981404315521132010-03-14T23:09:00.008-04:002010-03-15T00:01:29.605-04:00"With Friends Like These..."Yesterday author Lierre Keith (of "The Vegetarian Myth", which I'm currently reading) was attacked by three masked cowards, with a cream pie laced with cayenne pepper, who then shouted "GO VEGAN". By her account she's still in pain today. This is an ideologically driven hate crime, and I suspect misogynistic motivations as well (myself and others have spelled out why the fanatic vegan movement <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/29000acorns/~4/vw1eJTdMVnc" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>29,000 Acornshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00668130282973833943noreply@blogger.com8http://29000acorns.blogspot.com/2010/03/with-friends-like-these.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7757786468768923091.post-71327905469446816162010-03-08T12:00:00.001-05:002010-03-08T12:00:00.799-05:00On Killing and Balance: An Ecological and Reciprocity Based Ethical FoundationI am a killer. I don't deny this, and I have no problem with it. I'm a complex animal, and therefore I'm a killer. All complex animals are, as are most simple animals. Basically all creatures besides a few types of lichens feed off of the dead matter of other creatures, though plants don't kill firsthand too often. So I kill things or have things killed for me. This is not to say I'm a murderer, <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/29000acorns/~4/l5Ewl436x68" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>29,000 Acornshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00668130282973833943noreply@blogger.com5http://29000acorns.blogspot.com/2010/03/on-killing-and-balance-ecological-and.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7757786468768923091.post-51289571585028930132010-03-02T12:00:00.007-05:002010-03-02T15:23:30.883-05:00"Post-Colonial" RewildingAfter work Sunday night I managed to make it to a great party hosted by my friends Elizabeth, Marco (of the blog "Politics of the Cerebral", linked on the right), and Christina. The party was in celebration of Black History month, and featured a clothing drive to send to Haiti. As always happens when these particular friends are involved, the night was full of fantastic intellectual discussion,<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/29000acorns/~4/_hTutdHrpTo" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>29,000 Acornshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00668130282973833943noreply@blogger.com1http://29000acorns.blogspot.com/2010/03/post-colonial-rewilding.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7757786468768923091.post-24048724885278636722010-02-27T23:03:00.005-05:002010-03-01T20:30:41.406-05:00Foundational AcornsI've been criticized in the past (by people who don't bother to actually converse with me) for advocating and teaching skills such as foraging, gardening, hunting, fishing, and permaculture as a means to create social change. "How is eating acorns going to help the poor, stop women from being raped, stop corporations from blasting the tops off of mountains?". The primary misunderstanding that <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/29000acorns/~4/wH-f3740qI0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>29,000 Acornshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00668130282973833943noreply@blogger.com5http://29000acorns.blogspot.com/2010/02/foundational-acorns.html